Spring latch mechanism



April 1953 I w. R. GALLOWITZ 2,634,997

SPRING LATCH MECHANISM Filed Nov. 4, 1949 40 4 4 4/ 4 D 4 46m 4/ HEB INV EN TOR. MAL/AME GAALOW/TZ ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 14, 1953 UNITED ATESPATENT iO FFliCf-E SPRING LATCH MECHANISM William R. Gallnwitz,Cleveland, 0h l0 Application November 4, 1949, SerialNo. 1259147 7Claims. :(01. 292-4128) This invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in spring latch mechanisms, particularly those designed forlatchingthe covers of burial boxes and caskets. In this field of use,it=wil1 benoted that such latch mechanisms must operate quietly to thehighest degree of perfection, under all conditions with no noises orrattles'to mar the tranquility oflast rites. Because of the necessarycompactness and somewhat standardization of this type of mechanism,limitations on changes to achieve the foregoing are diflicult of simplesolutions. Lateral play. spring weakness and looseness of'the latchlever and handle with resultant noises and inconvenience have long beensourcesrof annoyance and objection, which thepresent inventionsatisfactorily overcomeswith no added cost of manufacture over presentlatches.

Thus, an important object or this invention is to provide an arrangementwith an improved latch spring which reduces lateral play of the latchand handle in two ways; first, by providing a two arm spring bowedtensionally around the mounting ears of the latch lever to stress thesecars into frictional engagement with opposite sides of said lever; andsecondly, by hooking the free ends of the spring arms over oppositesides of said lever to be stressed thereagainst and oppose lateralmovements thereof, this being augmented by the bow tension imparted tothe spring arms in assembly around the mounting ears acting to tensionthe hooked ends of the spring arms in opposite directions.

Another object of the -invention is to securely anchor the bight portionof the two armed spring to the base plate close to the mounting ears, byswedging the periphery of the head of the anchor rivet down over andpartially around the bight and adjacent portions of the spring arms nearthe latch lever pivot to cause greater stress and bending of the springto firmly hold the .latch urged toward its keeper at all times.

The arrangement of the spring anchor close to'the latch pivot and therelationship of the parts, makes for an exceedingly compact anddesirable latch mechanism; and the-die-sinking oi thecountersunk screwholes at opposite sides 0! the base plate during an assembly step, keepsthe plate in its flat plane to contribute to a precision builtmechanism.7

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description.

the accompanying drawing forming apart oi."fih.descrintion oithepreferred example-of my invention-and wherein likenumerals-are-employed to designate like parts 'i'-.hroughouththe severalviews,

Fig. 1 'is'a vertical section through portions of a casket and lidthereorshowing the invention applied thereto, I

Fig. 2 is a front elevation'thereo'f,

"3 is a section' taken on the'line 3--3 ot Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a top plan of my improved latch mechanism,

Fig. 5 is a side elevaticn cr the latch'guard with mounting'ears,

Fig. '6 is a vertical section thereof taken on the line 6-6- of Fig.5,

Fig. 7 15-9. topplanof my improved'spring,

Fig. 8-is aside elevation thereof,

, Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the-spring,

Fig. 10 is aside elevation of the latch lever,

Fig. 11 is a sectional viewtaken on thc line lI-l l-ofFig. 4,

Fig. 12 isa plan view or the bcttom -oi the stamping forming; thebase-plate, and

Fig. l3 is a perspective view of the assembled latch.

Referring now forfurther details 01 the inven tlon, the numeral '15designates the upper edge or a casket having a recess I6 formed thereincovered'with a slotted escutcheon plate or keeper I1 equipped with adepending catch or lip l8 under which the noseof the latch, to bepresentlydescribed, catches to hold the lid H! or cover of the casketclosed, when desired. This keeper plate is secured to the casket byscrews 20, or in-any othersuitablemanner. The lid IQ of the casketopposite each'keeper plate I! is provided with a substantiallysemi-circular recess 2| bored or otherwise to run out through the frontface of the casket to receive therein a similarly shaped base platestamping 22 forming the mounting for my improved latch mechanism, whichis fastened to the casket by "screws Her other suitable fasteners,extendingthrough countersunk openings 24 at diametrically opposite sidesof the base 1 plate, as shown.

The base plate 22 near its centein'is provided withapunched out H shapedslot 25 which forms a pair of spaced slots '26 separated by a pair ofopposed stop'lugs 2'l'ior limiting swinging movement of the latch leverin both directions or its movement. A guard having a pair of spacedparallel arms '28 is formed from a U shaped stamping with each armterminating in a reduced neck 29 to extend through its respective slot23 with shoulders 30 abutting the underside or exposed face of the baseplate. Each neck is provided with an overhanging pivot mounting ear 3|,the lower edge of which hooks over the top face of the base plate to beclamped thereon by a lug 32 also extending from each neck 29 and throughthe same slot 26 to be bent over the top face to lock the guard firmlyto the base plate 22. These lugs of the two arms 28 are bent overlaterally and swedged down to pull the shoulders up tightly against thebase plate. Each ear 3| is formed with an integral inwardly extendingboss or pintle 32' aligned with each other to form a pivot for the latchlever to be presently described. The mounting of the latch lever 33requires spreading apart of the ears 3| after they have been insertedthrough the base plate, which may be done with the die which swedgesdown the lugs 32 in one operation; this permitting the hooked end 34 ofthe lever to be inserted down through the slot of the base plate andbetween the arms 28 of the guard to bring the pivot hole 35 of the leverdown between the ears and pintles 32', after which the ears 3| arepinched toward one another to move their pintles into the pivot hole.

With the latch lever thus mounted, its shank 36 swings in the slot 25and has a shoulder 3'! to engage under one of the shoulders 2'! of thebase plate when the lever is swung to unlatch the latch and open the lidof the casket. When the lid is closed, the inclined edge of the latchhook 34 rides upon the keeper I"! to snap under the lip |8, while theedge of the shank 36 abuts the other shoulder 21 of the base plate in anedgewise direction to muffle the sound of latching. The

underedge of the lever is straight to simultaneously abut the upper faceof the base plate to limit downward swing of the lever and the latter isprovided with a downwardly extending rightangled handle portion 38 whichprojects outwardly from the front of the casket as shown in Fig. l, forunlatching the latch and raising the casket lid. Since the shoulder 31of the latch lever 33 abuts the outer shoulder 21 when the lever isswung upwardly to raise the casket lid l9, all strain is placed uponthese metal shoulders; and the spring 40, now to be described, is notoverstrained or overtaxed by lid raising or closing beyond its normallatching and unlatching functions. Thus, its life is protected againstabuse.

. The novel multi-function spring All and its relationship with otherarts of the latch mechanism, consists, in the present embodiment, of asingle length of tough spring wire formed into generally U shape, orrather a closed loopwith a central bight portion 4| anchored securely asthough welded to the base plate, by a rivet t2 having its shankextending through a hole 43 closely adjacent the slot 25 and pivotmounting ears 3|, and the bight of the spring; so that the rivet head 44overlaps the bight and has its periphery swedged down around said bightandadjacent portions of the spring. This swedging of the rivet head maybe done at the same time that the die forms the countersinking of theopenings 24, or the latter may be countersunk when the base plate isbeing blanked out or stamped from the raw material, or even when thelugs 32 are being bent over and swedged down; the purpose being that thecountersinking of the openings be done simultaneously with some otherforming or assembling operations, and not necessarily as a separate stepor operation.

The spring has its two arms extended in spaced parallel relationship inthe same planeas the bight portion 4| and the end of each arm 45 isformed first inwardly toward and beyond the longitudinal center line ofspring 40 and then its free end 46 is formed downwardly at right anglesto its inwardly formed portion, so that the inwardly extendin portions41 extend in opposite directions across the upper edge of the latchlever and the downwardly formed ends 46 engage opposite sides of thelever 33. Prior to assembly of the spring with the base plate, its armsG5 are parallel as shown in Fig. 7, but when assembled in the latchmechanism, as shown in Fig. 4, these arms are stressed, here shown bowedor flexed outwardly to be arranged or pressed firmly against the outersides of the mounting ears 3|. This stressing or arrangement of the armscauses the free hooked ends 46 of the spring arms to be moved orstressed in opposite directions firmly against the opposite sides of thelatch lever. With or without this arm bowing, the hooked ends of thespring oppose any lateral movements of the latch lever to precludelooseness'and rattling of the parts, but with it, the spring actiontends to hold the ears 3! from spreading apart and into frictionalengagement with the latch lever to provide a rattle proof mechanism.

, With the bight of the spring anchored by the rivet head M closelyadjacent the bases of the mounting ears 3|, the two arms 45 of thespring will be initially flexed or tensioned by the hooking of theirfreeends 46 and 41 over the top of r I the latch lever 33, so that the leverwill be held down firmly in latched position to further precluderattles. If desired, the ends of the spring arms may first be hookedover the lever before the bight of the spring is anchored to the baseplate, so that the heading of the rivet over the bight willautomatically tension or initially flex the spring arms as shown inFig. 1. From this figure it will be noted that the two arms d5 of thespring, have portions thereof spanning the indentations forming thepintles 32 in all positions of the spring arms, so that if, instead ofthe integral pintles, a separate pivot pin may be extended throughaligned holes in the ears 3| and latch lever, and the spring arms willextend across the ends of such pin to prevent its accidentaldisplacement.

As best appreciated from Figs. 4 and 6, the depressed pintles 32' are ofconical shape to engage in the hole 35 of the latch lever and beingpressed inwardly thereof by the pivot ears 3| being urged inwardly bythe bowing of the spring arms friction is set u between the conicalsurfaces of the pintles and the opposed edges of the hole 35 to resistlateral movement of the lever. In addition, this lever is stressed inopposite directions by the hooked ends of the spring arms 45 at pointsspaced from the pivot to further resist lateral movements and rattlin ofthe latch lever.

7, From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that an extremelyquiet compact and noiseless latch mechanism has been provided, and thatvarious changes in the construction and arrangement of parts may beresorted to without departing; from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A latch mechanism comprising the combination with a base plateprovided with a pair of pivot ears having opposed. inwardly facingconical projections, a latch lever pivoted between said ears and havinga hole therein, the edges of which engage said conical projections topivotally mount said lever, of asingle length of spring wire having abight anchored to said base plate and a pair of spring arms stressed topress inwardly upon said ears to stress said conical projections againstthe edges of said hole, the ends of said spring arms overlapping saidlever from opposite sides thereof and bent to engage opposite sides ofsaid lever from which those ends extend to be pressed inwardlythereagainst in opposite directions against opposite sides of said leverby said stressed portions of said spring arms pressing against said earsto prevent looseness and lateral play of said lever.

2. An improved wire spring for a latch having a base plate having alatch lever pivotally mounted thereon, said spring comprising a singlelength of spring wire 'bent at its medial portion to form a pair ofparallel spring arms and a U-shaped bight portion through which afastener extends to fasten said spring to said base plate, said parallelspring arms being adapted to extend in upwardly inclined relation tosaid base plate on opposite sides of said lever, said spring armsadjacent their ends being bent inwardly and laterally in paralleljuxtaposed positions at substantially right angles to the spring arms toextend in the same plane as said arms toward and across the longitudinalcenter line of said spring and across the upper edge of said lever andaway from the arm from which it is bent to resist unlatching movement ofsaid lever, and the right angular lateral ends of said spring arms beingbent again at right angles downwardly in such spaced apart parallelismas to be stressed inwardly in opposite directions against opposite sidesof said latch lever, whereby said lever is actually gripped between thedownwardly bent free ends of the spring arms and its lateral movementsare noiselessly restrained.

3. An improved wire spring for a latch, said latch having a base platehaving a latch lever pivotally mounted thereon, said spring comprising asingle length of spring wire bent at its medial portion to form a pairof spring arms and a U-shaped bight portion through which a fastenerextends to fasten said spring to said base plate, said spring arms beingarranged on opposite sides of said lever, said spring arms adjacenttheir ends being bent inwardly and laterally to extend across the edgeof said lever and away from the arm from which it is bent to resistunlatching movement of said lever, and the lateral ends of said springarms being bent downwardly in such spaced apart relation as to bepressed inwardly in opposite directions against opposite sides of saidlever, whereby said lever is actually gripped between the downwardlybent free ends of said spring arms and its lateral movements arerestrained.

4. A latch mechanism comprising the combination with a base plateprovided with a pair of pivot ears and a latch lever pivoted betweensaid ears; of a pair -of spring arms anchored to said base plate andextending lengthwise on opposite sides of said lever and contacting saidears, and said spring arms having portions remote from said anchorextending across the longitudinal edge of said lever and formed toprovide downwardly extending portions to press in opposite directionsagainst opposite sides of said lever, the contact between said springarms and ears serving to so space said portions from said lever as tocause them to be pressed in opposite directions against opposite sidesof said lever to restrain lateral movement of said lever.

5. A latch mechanism comprising the combination with a base plateprovided with a pair of pivot ears and a latch lever pivoted betweensaid ears; of a pair of spring arms anchored to said base plate andextending lengthwise on opposite sides of said lever with the free endsof said arms extending across the edge of said lever and hooked oversaid edge to engage opposite sides of said lever, and to press upon saidsides in opposite directions, said arms intermediat their length havingcontact with the outer sides of said pivot ears to cause said freehooked ends of said spring arms to press in opposit direction onopposite sides of said lever to restrain lateral movement of said lever.

6. An improved wire spring for a latch, said latch having a base platehaving a latch lever pivotally mounted thereon, said spring comprising asingle length of spring wire bent at its medial portion to form a pairof spring arms and a bight portion firmly anchored to said base plate.said spring arms being arranged on opposite sides of said lever, saidspring arms adjacent their ends being bent inwardly and laterally toextend across the edge of said lever to resist unlatching movement ofsaid lever, and the lateral ends of said spring arms being bent toengage opposite sides of said lever to press inwardly in oppositedirections on opposite sides of said lever to restrain its lateralmovements.

'7. A wire spring for a latch, said latch havin a base plate with alatch lever pivotally mounted thereby, said spring including a pair ofsprin arms anchored to said plate and extending lengthwise of said leveron opposite sides thereof. and said spring arms at points remote fromsaid pivot having portions extended laterall inward across the edge ofsaid lever and bent against opposite sides of said lever, said bentportions being spaced apart a distance less than the thickness of saidlever to press in opposite directions against opposite sides of saidlever to restrain lateral movement of said lever.

WILLIAM R. GALLOWITZ.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 604,786 Pletcher May 31, 1898 832,020 Keil Sept. 25, 19061,661,634 Pekar Mar. 6, 1928 2,394,395 Morand Feb. 5, 1946 2,448,409Barnes Aug. 31, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 13,108 GreatBritain July 18, 1892 487,959 France Mar. 17, 1918

